Investigation of the effects of various parameters on the synthesis of oligopeptides in aqueous solution

Oligomerization efficiency of amino acids in aqueous solution has been compared under different conditions (temperature, activating agent, etc.) using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC) and 1,1′-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) as coupling agents. Glycine (H2N–CH2–COOH) and α-alanine (H2N–CH(CH3)–COOH) were chosen as α-amino acids and β-alanine (H2N–CH2–CH2–COOH) as the β-amino acid. The coupling reaction between EDC and glycine was shown to occur but does not go to completion either at ambient temperature or at 70 °C. The presence of a carboxylic activating agent such as N-hydroxysuccinimide improves the EDC-mediated coupling reaction, and the amino acid structure (α- or β-) was shown to have an influence on the oligomerization efficiency, with β-alanine polymerisation being more efficient. These findings are explained by reference to the reaction mechanism.